Nosgoth (cancelled game)
Nosgoth is an upcoming free-to-play multiplayer action video game, developed by Psyonix and published by Square Enix Europe through Steam for Microsoft Windows. Since February 2014, it has undergone closed beta testing, but its release date is unconfirmed. Though not nominally promoted under the Legacy of Kain banner, Nosgoth takes place in the existing continuity and eponymous setting of past games. Within the series, it sets multiple precedents; developed without the direct involvement of Crystal Dynamics, it is the first Legacy of Kain spinoff and multiplayer title, establishing a new branch in the franchise. The game's backstory bridges gaps between the opening events of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, and revolves around a new War for Nosgoth waged among the vampires of Kain's empire and their human adversaries. Players control, and switch between, both races in a variety of team-based gameplay modes, competing to score points, accumulate currency, gain experience, and improve their characters with each match. As the first Legacy of Kain-related title to emerge in almost a decade, Nosgoth was revealed in 2013 to controversial reception, with criticism focusing on its conceptual departure from the series' narrative-driven formula. Shortly following its announcement, it was discovered that the game had originated as the multiplayer companion to a traditional single-player project, Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, cancelled in 2012. However, Square Enix Europe stated that the finished product would be largely independent of Dead Sun. They explained their intentions for Nosgoth to introduce the series to an expanded audience, and emphasized that, as a live game, community input would influence its future direction and development. Profile *'Preceded by:' Legacy of Kain: Defiance (2003) *'Developer:' Psyonix *'Publisher:' Square Enix Europe *'Directed by:' **Corey Davis – game director **Bill Beacham – design director *'Release date:' TBA ("closed beta is now live") *'Formats:' Microsoft Windows *'Protagonists:' **The vampires: Soul Reaver era **The humans *'Quick links (categories):' **Nosgoth characters **Nosgoth locations **Nosgoth items and equipment **Nosgoth abilities **Nosgoth terms **Nosgoth crew **Nosgoth gallery *'Associated media:' Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun – precursor project ' Mythology Backstory and setting Nosgoth chronicles a previously-unexplored span of time in the Soul Reaver era: the centuries between Raziel's execution and Raziel's resurrection, both events originally depicted in the introduction to Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Since the collapse of the Pillars and the holy war, Nosgoth's oppressed human population has carved out a harsh existence in slavery and exile, largely relegated to life as food in blood farms. The land's emperor, Kain, and the Council – his six lieutenants – reign over the heartlands with their vampire clans. When Raziel, Kain's first-born lieutenant, betrays his master, Kain condemns him to execution in the Lake of the Dead. Before long, however, Kain himself disappears, abandoning the empire. Using the Chronoplast to travel through time, he departs in search of a means to restore health to the corrupt Pillars of Nosgoth, and the world itself. Kain's surviving lieutenants remain to shepherd the decadent realm, but quickly succumb to mistrust, infighting, and, ultimately, civil war. Raziel's leaderless progeny, the Razielim, become victims to persecution from their brethren, and, now unrestrained by Kain's leadership, clan falls against clan. Nosgoth's humans capitalize on the escalating state of turmoil and distraction among the vampires to escape the blood farms, rekindling their own civilization. Rebuilding cities and recovering skills over hundreds of years, the human slaves come to represent an increasingly credible threat to the vampire race. They form an army, and a devastating attack on their enemies' outposts begins. The clans settle their disputes and reunite in an uneasy alliance to quell the insurgency. The new war between both races for domination of Nosgoth ensues. Vampires and humans to be added Gameplay modes There are currently two gameplay modes in which the game can be played. In team deathmatch, both teams (Vampire and Vampire Hunter) fight each other with a goal of getting more kills than the opposing team (Maximum of 30). The game has two rounds with each team playing both the vampires and the vampire hunters. The game is over when both rounds are finished and the team with the highest overall score is declared the winner. The second active mode, available only when classes pass level 10 is Siege mode, which focuses more on capturing locations. Humans are required to reach certain areas of the map, marked by special 'siege towers' and once occupied, a countdown begins during which the team must defend the area against Vampire attack. Once the timer has run down, the humans are rewarded 5 points for capturing an area. Conversely, to gain points the Vampires must simply kill as many humans as possible. Analysis Overview to be added Nosgoth employs a player versus player system in which each match consists of two rounds. Teams comprise characters assigned to one of two races: vampires, designed around hack and slash combat; or humans, whose gameplay is styled after third-person shooters. Between rounds, teams switch to control the opposing race, and the team which accumulates the most points by fighting their counterparts wins the match. Character classes Vampires: Reavers Tyrants Deceivers Sentinels Humans: Scouts Hunters Alchemists Prophets Locations and maps to be added Development Pre-confirmation '' project.]] In February 2013, several gaming websites, including VG247, reported the discovery that publisher Square Enix's website domain managers had registered the domain "warfornosgoth.com", noting that this name referred to the Legacy of Kain series' established setting, Nosgoth. Legacy of Kain and Wolfenstein domains registered at VG247 (by Stephany Nunneley) In the same month, the Official Xbox Magazine's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell posted that a Passion Pictures artist, Richard Buxton, had mentioned working on a Legacy of Kain "animation pitch" in 2011 at his LinkedIn page, and publicized "some highly Kain-ish art" from Buxton's online portfolio. In a telephone call with Evans-Thirlwell, Buxton simply replied, "I'm not allowed to talk about that", and subsequently removed the storyboard, and all references to Legacy of Kain, from his profiles.New Legacy of Kain project revealed - possible artwork spotted in portfolio at the Official Xbox Magazine (by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell) Square Enix Registers Possibly Legacy Of Kain Related Domain at the Eidos Forums (by Gorechild), post #32 (by Aevum) Square Enix Registers Possibly Legacy Of Kain Related Domain at the Eidos Forums (by Gorechild), post #34 (by Aevum) In May 2013, it was highlighted that the phrases "War for Nosgoth" and "Nosgoth", and an associated file – "BCMPGame.exe" – had appeared in Advanced Micro Devices' Catalyst application profiles, alongside the titles of various recently-released and upcoming video games. New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum) Legacy of Kain game world name appears on Steam database and AMD patch logs at GameSpot (by Jonathan Toyad) Further, it was found that an entry for a title named Nosgoth had appeared on Valve Corporation's Steam database, attributed to "Psyonix Comp". The entry had been renamed to "Nosgoth" from an earlier codename, "Black Cloth", and featured a logo and icon which both prominently displayed a shape resembling the dais of the Pillars of Nosgoth. Additionally, the LinkedIn profile of composer Kevin Riepl contained an entry reading "Nosgoth (VG) Square Enix/Psyonix". After this was publicized, Riepl, like Buxton, edited the reference: first to read, "Sort of announced Title (?) :-| ? what? (VG) Square Enix/Psyonix", before instead declaring it an unannounced game. New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #26 (by Monkeythumbz)New Legacy of Kain hinted in AMD driver patch logs at PCGMedia (by Chi Villafuerte) Some final potential evidence came in the form of an image from a Psyonix Games artist's portfolio, depicting a "vampire creature concept". War for Nosgoth (Legacy of Kain) in AMD Drivers; "Nosgoth" in Steam DB (Psyonix Dev?) at NeoGAF (by Mama Robotnik), post #75 (by Mama Robotnik) Through an exchange on Twitter, Kain voice actor Simon Templeman stated that he had not been contacted regarding any new Legacy of Kain titles, but expressed enthusiasm about a possible return to the role: "I haven't heard but he'll sic yeah...more soul reaving would be fun". 8:35 PM - 29 May 13 at Twitter (by Simon Templeman)If A New Legacy of Kain Happens, Voice Actor Simon Templeman Allegedly Won't be Involved at Gamenguide (by Ural Garrett) Eventually, on June 8, 2013, Square Enix London community manager George Kelion, concerned that the continuing leaks might generate misguided speculation, reached out to websites to confirm the existence of an upcoming game named Nosgoth. VG247 reported that he stated the following: He issued a different statement to Eurogamer, but with similar details: Both announcements offered the following points of information: *''Nosgoth'' is in active development. *''Nosgoth'' is not a traditional action-adventure game, unlike all previous Legacy of Kain titles. *''Nosgoth'' is a multiplayer game, again unlike all previous Legacy of Kain titles, with no single-player components. *''Nosgoth'' is not a reboot, and exists within the established Legacy of Kain continuity. *Crystal Dynamics, who either published or developed all previous Legacy of Kain games, are neither developing nor involved with Nosgoth, nor any other Legacy of Kain titles. *''Nosgoth'' is envisaged as a new "branch" in the franchise, akin to the Blood Omen and Soul Reaver sub-series. *''Nosgoth'' has not yet been properly revealed, and will be more formally announced at a later time. Post-confirmation Since confirming the existence of Nosgoth, Kelion, under the alias "Monkeythumbz", has divulged several additional details on the project at the Eidos Forums in response to fan questions: *''"Making sure that we respect the series canon is something we take very seriously. I know you'll think I'd say that anyway, but we're devoted fans of the lore established in the previous games, so it's only natural we'd want to ensure Nosgoth both complements them and expands upon them. ... I'm all up for having a discussion... but all in good time. Right now, we're all heads-down and nose to the grindstone in the preparation phase, getting all the various materials in place etc, and we want to make sure that the game feels right before speaking about it more plainly and openly. ... As I told VG247, I'm sorry to be so cagey... we just felt it was important to tell you what Nosgoth *isn't* so as to properly manage your expectations. The time to tell you what Nosgoth *is* will be coming soon, but not just yet." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #211 (by Monkeythumbz) *"On Nosgoth, I'm the game's Community Manager - which as a long-time LoK fanboy is pretty much a dream gig! I look forward to discussing my exact involvement so far in greater detail once we're ready to do so. ... With regards to genre, all I can say right now is that you really shouldn't be thinking of Nosgoth as a game in terms of a single-player experience." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #216 (by Monkeythumbz) *"The truth is I don't know about Amy's notes, although I know I personally haven't read them (even though the prospect has me salivating). Even if I did know, I'm not even sure what I'd be allowed to say, especially as Crystal Dynamics aren't involved with Nosgoth and I assume her notes would be their property. So yes, "i don't know" is the only answer I can give right now. ... Regarding extraneous information, the answer is "yes" and "no". "Yes" in the sense that we've done our very best to absorb all knowledge about LoK's narrative as revealed in the games and elsewhere, and "no" in the sense that it's not really relevant to Nosgoth. As I said in my statement, Nosgoth is very much on a seperate sic branch of the LoK mythos to Soul Reaver and Blood Omen (and, by extension, Defiance). It's definitely the same familiar universe, though." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #223 (by Monkeythumbz) *"Nosgoth is not a mobile game. Also, we're mostly influenced by LoK:SR1... make of that what you will." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #275 (by Monkeythumbz) *"Nosgoth is not open-world." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #300 (by Monkeythumbz) *"I can tell you truthfully that Nosgoth has been built as an LoK game from the ground up." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #331 (by Monkeythumbz) *"Inevitably, due to the nature of this game being multiplayer, story will not be as prominent a factor in moment-to-moment gameplay as with previous LoK games, which hopefully will address your point about newcomers. Nevertheless, as fans of the series, it's our hope that what we are doing within the lore will encourage newcomers to be engaged by the series' rich backstory and convert them into LoK aficionados. ... Additionally, by having Nosgoth exist on a different branch to SR and BO (but within the same continuity), we're going out of our way to avoid "butchering" the game and, by extension, the IP." New Nosgoth Game in Development: Confirmed at the Eidos Forums (by Aevum), post #372 (by Monkeythumbz) Official Announcement On September 25, 2013, the official Announcement trailer for Nosgoth was released, showcasing the game as an asymmetrical third-person team-based multiplayer game. Following the trailer, George Kelion, Community Manager answered some questions regarding the game's placement in the timeline saying that it takes place after Kain casts out Raziel into the Abyss, during a time where he is mostly absent from his empire, and shows what happened to the Razielim during that time period. Nosgoth (Square Enix/Psyonix, Legacy of Kain, F2P) Announcement Trailer at NeoGAF (by Musiol), post #137 (by Monkeythumbz) ''Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun (~ To be added... ~) Gallery File:DeadSun-Trailer-Storyboard-Buxton.jpg|Richard Buxton's 2011 Legacy of Kain storyboard from related project Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun. File:Nosgoth-Promotional-Steam-Logo.jpg|''Nosgoth'' logo discovered at the Steam database. File:Nosgoth-Promotional-Logo-Official.png|The official Nosgoth icon resembling the Pillars' dais, first discovered in the Steam database File:Nosgoth-Character-Sentinel-Portfolio-MamaRobotnik.jpg|A Psyonix Games "vampire creature concept". File:Nosgoth Announcement Trailer|The Nosgoth announcement trailer. File:Nosgoth_-_Live_Community_Q%26A,_September_30th_2013|''Nosgoth'' Q&A with George Kelion and Bill Beacham File:Nosgoth_War_is_Upon_Us_Trailer|The "War is upon us" trailer Credits *'Developer:' Psyonix *'Publisher:' Square Enix Europe *'Community manager:' Cat Karskens *'Composer:' Kevin Riepl See also * Official Nosgoth site * Official Nosgoth Forums *''Legacy of Kain'' *Sixth game * Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun * War for Nosgoth FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions at the Eidos Forums (by Raina Audron/George Kelion) References Nosgoth closed alpha begins next week in some territories fr:Wiki Nosgoth FR Category:Games Category:Nosgoth (game)